


thunderstorms, and other things that bring us together | kinkuni

by slycel



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aobajousai, Comfort, Fluff, M/M, There's a thunderstorm, i suddenly felt like kinkuni, inspired by an artwork by baguantte on instagram!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:21:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24745273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slycel/pseuds/slycel
Summary: self-indulgent!! i just really wanted to get it out there :))was picturing baguantte's kindaichi whenever I was thinking about how his hair would look down <3
Relationships: Kindaichi Yuutarou/Kunimi Akira
Comments: 10
Kudos: 98





	thunderstorms, and other things that bring us together | kinkuni

It started when Kindaichi came into the room with his hair down.

Kunimi knew full well that Kindaichi styled his hair to get it the way he did—it was something Kunimi teased the other boy relentlessly about. But even so, Kindaichi had kept the same hairstyle for the entire time they'd known each other. Thus, it was quite a shock when Kindaichi pushed the door open and announced that Kunimi could use the showers next.

Training camp was grueling, and Kunimi was more than ready to wash away the grime of the day, but his arms gave out due to shock (and fatigue, he guessed) when he tried to push himself off the floor, where he was sprawled. 

Matsukawa whistled lowly. It seemed like everyone had stopped what they were doing to stare: Iwaizumi looked up from his phone; Oikawa stopped bothering Iwaizumi; and Watari, Yahaba and Hanamaki paused their game of cards.

"Kindaichi? That you?" Oikawa asked, squinting at him.

"Uh– yes?" Kindaichi answered confusedly, towelling off his still-dripping hair.

"Dumbass." Iwaizumi lightly slapped Oikawa on the back of his head. "No need to be so accusatory."

"I wasn't accusing him of anything!" Oikawa cried indignantly. "I was just asking! 'Cause you look different, Kindaichi," he added, nodding at Kindaichi, who nodded back even though he still looked like he had no idea what was going on. 

Kindaichi made his way over to his futon, stepping over the limp body of Kyoutani, who fell asleep right after he came back from his shower. "Do I really look that different?" he asked Kunimi, still lying on the ground. "That looks like an uncomfortable place to be. Your futon's right there."

"Too far," Kunimi muttered. "And yeah, you do look very different. For one, you're four inches shorter."

Kindaichi flushed, and rubbed at his hair more vigorously.

"Don't worry," Kunimi continued, getting to his feet with an enormous amount of effort. He picked up his bundle of clothes from his bad and tucked them over one arm. "It doesn't look bad. Excuse me."

He stepped past Kindaichi, went around Kyoutani for fear of accidentally stepping on him, and exited the room, glad the bathrooms were so close to the bedroom. If he so much as had to go up three steps, he'd collapse. 

***

Kunimi was ready to pass out after he left the showers, a cloud of steam escaping behind him. He liked his showers burning hot, even more so when it was cold out like it was tonight. It had been difficult to even reach his arm out to turn the tap off.

He carefully made his way down the dim hallway, counting the doors until he successfully found the one they were sleeping in. This place was so big, way larger than Kunimi's house, and as a first-year, it was his first time navigating it. Oikawa and the other third years all seemed to get around no problem, but Kunimi found himself poking his head into various empty hallways, searching for rooms and objects that were scattered all over the place.

Kunimi pushed the door open as quietly as he could. He had been the last to shower, so everyone was already asleep when he entered the room—or, mostly everyone; Iwaizumi looked up and nodded at Kunimi before returning his attention to a book he was reading by the light of his phone. Oikawa was curled up like a cat next to him, squeezing himself onto the same futon as Iwaizumi even though his own futon was only a few feet away. 

This type of behavior was normal for them, from what Kunimi had seen. Even in Kitagawa Daiichi, Oikawa could always be found wherever Iwaizumi was. 

The room, save for the light coming from Iwaizumi's phone, was almost completely dark. The moon was hidden behind heavy, dark clouds: the weather forecast had said there'd be a thunderstorm overnight. A few raindrops were already hitting the windowpane, sounding out a gentle pattern.

Kunimi quietly stepped between the bodies of his sleeping teammates, and with the exception of Yahaba twitching when Kunimi narrowly missed stepping on his hand, he made it to his futon without incident. He had chosen this spot for the sole purpose of being able to stare out the window. Call it a habit, but Kunimi enjoyed looking at the sky before he fell asleep. 

Next to him, Kindaichi was sleeping with his back turned to the wall, his hair still falling loosely around his face. Kunimi allowed himself two seconds to watch how peaceful he looked before settling down and pulling the covers up, enjoying how cold they were.

He felt his body heave a sigh of relief as soon as he laid down, finally giving his muscles a chance to relax. And it was only day one...

On the other side of the room, Iwazumi's phone clicked off, and the rustling of pages as he bookmarked his place could be heard. Without the phone, the room turned blissfully shadowed, and Kunimi closed his eyes, letting himself succumb to tiredness. 

***

At 3:17 A.M., as a quick glance at his phone revealed, Kunimi woke to thunder.

He'd always been a light sleeper. It was part of the reason why he felt so tired all the time, he guessed—waking at every small noise meant it was hard to stay asleep for the entire night. Kunimi blearily shifted so that he could see out the window better, watching the sky flash bright before returning to a stormy gray. A few seconds later, the sky rumbled with thunder.

Kunimi was in a piss mood after being woken up, and he could tell it was going to be hard getting back to sleep. Worse yet, he could feel a headache forming, and had no idea why. So he stared at the high ceiling of the room and dreaded the morning, because there was more practice to be had, more drills to run through, more receives and sets and spikes and running.

During the little time he had slept, the rain had turned from gentle to pounding against the window violently.

Another flash. More thunder.

This time, though, Kindaichi bolted up into a sitting position in the futon next to Kunimi's, looking towards the window fearfully. Surprised, Kunimi sat up as well.

Kindaichi's eyes darted from the window to Kunimi, then back to the window, his shoulders shaking.

"You okay?" Kunimi asked, still not used to his hair. 

After a while, Kindaichi nodded, and he stretched out on his futon again.

Kunimi, meanwhile, arranged himself into a more comfortable position, his legs crossed, and leaned against the wall. 

"Not tired?" Kindaichi asked quietly, turning so that he was facing Kunimi.

"Can't sleep," Kunimi replied.

"Oh, right. 'Cause of the thunder, right?"

Kunimi hummed in affirmation, his eyes drifting shut once more.

"I hate thunderstorms," Kindaichi said, and Kunimi opened one eye.

Kunimi could just barely make out Kindaichi's face in the dark, but from what he could tell, Kindaichi looked scared out of his mind. The sight was even more unnerving than his hair, and Kunimi frowned at the other boy.

"Why?" Kunimi asked, realizing only after the words left his mouth that it probably wasn't the best question to ask.

"Dunno. Always have," Kindaichi answered.

They both went quiet, because Kunimi couldn't think of anything to say to that. The sky lit up again, and this time Kunimi was watching Kindaichi and caught the way he winced. 

Kunimi hated the way Kindaichi looked, his chest heaving with erratic breaths and his eyes squeezed shut. But he couldn't control the weather, and the thunderstorm didn't look like it would pass anytime soon.

After a second of deliberation, Kunimi patted the space next to him. "C'mere."

That made Kindaichi's eyes open, and with an equally short period of hesitation, he pushed his covers off and scrambled over to Kunimi, nearly kicking Yahaba's arm in the process. 

Kindaichi was warm, but Kunimi leaned over and pulled his blanket over the both of them anyway. The weight of the blanket would be comforting, he hoped.

The thunder came just after the blanket settled over them. Kindaichi flinched, pressing closer to Kunimi's side. Before he could talk himself out of it, Kunimi reached for Kindaichi's hand. When he realized it was balled up in a fist, Kunimi eased his fingers loose, then slipped his hand into Kindaichi's.

"I hate thunderstorms," Kindaichi repeated.

"You've said that already," Kunimi said. "Try to go to sleep, or we'll die of exhaustion tomorrow."

Kindaichi lapsed into silence, obviously trying to take Kunimi's advice, but Kunimi could feel Kindaichi fidgeting. Kunimi stretched both legs out in front of him, testing how sore they were. The blanket slipped down so that it only covered their legs, leaving their arms exposed.

Kunimi wasn't one to be embarrassed for something he's already done, but Kindaichi stared at their clasped hands for a solid ten seconds before turning away hastily. Kunimi was sure the darkness of the room was concealing a very flustered Kindaichi.

Why, he didn't know. Aoba Johsai's volleyball team was very touchy with one another, in a casual way—Oikawa usually had one arm around Iwaizumi whenever they went anywhere together; Matsukawa and Hanamaki were totally comfortable jumping onto each other's backs without any prior warning; Yahaba and Watari were forever elbowing and ribbing on each other; that type of thing. And Kunimi had appreciated Kindaichi's warmth ever since their days at Kitagawa Daiichi.

"Why d'you keep your hair like that?" Kunimi asked, trying to get Kindaichi's mind off the storm outside. "Looks tiring."

"It doesn't get in my way," Kindaichi answered. "Your hair covers your eyes, sometimes, when you bend down."

 _When I bend down_ —Kunimi shook the thought from his mind. "It doesn't cover my eyes when I'm playing," he said. "So I don't see a problem with it."

"You wouldn't," Kindaichi mumbled tiredly. "You don't notice anything, not even when I'm trying to be obvious."

Kunimi opened his mouth to respond, but another loud bang sounded outside, this one so jarring Kindaichi snapped to attention and looked like he might cry. Kunimi blinked at him, and wondered what he could do if Kindaichi actually did start crying.

"Sorry," Kindaichi muttered, once it had passed. "I know it's a stupid fear to have."

"Oikawa's fear of leaving the house without a mirror is stupid." Kunimi lifted the hand that was holding Kindaichi's into his lap and began massaging the other boy's hand with both of his, something his mother taught him to do to counter headaches. Also, it relaxed Kunimi, and, like with the blanket, he hoped it would relax Kindaichi as well. "Thunder's kinda scary."

"You don't look scared," Kindaichi pointed out.

"This is just my face," Kunimi deadpanned. "I thought you'd be used to it by now." 

"I am, I am," Kindaichi hurriedly replied. "It's a nice, um, face."

Kunimi couldn't stop from smiling, realizing at the same time that his headache from earlier and faded away while he was talking to Kindaichi.

"Did that sound weird? Sorry," Kindaichi immediately said.

"What? No," Kunimi answered, reaching for Kindaichi's other hand. He had to lean across Kindaichi to get to it, though, and it was impossible to miss the way Kindaichi shrank against the wall as he did so. "Does it hurt?"

"Not really," Kindaichi said, once Kunimi was back at a reasonable distance away from him. "Feels good. Where'd you learn?"

"My mom. I used to get a lot of headaches." Kunimi released Kindaichi's hand and slouched back against the wall. 

"From lack of sleep?" Kindaichi teased.

Kunimi realized then that while Kindaichi was (almost laughably) respectful to the second- and third-years, he'd never hold back from poking fun at Kunimi. Whether it was a joke about Kunimi's handwriting, which went from neat at the beginning of class to a scrawl at the end, or Kunimi's awful sense of style, Kindaichi could be counted on to tell it like it was. And, sitting there in that dark room, where the only other person awake was a boy with his hair down, Kunimi appreciated him a great deal for it.

"Probably," Kunimi sighed. "Yeah, you're probably right."

"No sleep, even as a kid?" Kindaichi mused, eyes wandering to their sleeping teammates and missing the flash of lightning. "Every parent's nightma—"

A crack of thunder, the loudest one yet, struck in the middle of Kindaichi's sentence. This time, Kunimi was prepared for it, and put an arm around Kindaichi's shoulders. With both of them sitting down, it was easy—all of Kindaichi's height was in his legs. 

Kindaichi's breathing was so ragged it sounded like it hurt, so Kunimi focused on keeping his own breaths as even as possible. "Breathe," Kunimi whispered, pulling Kindaichi to his side. "It's okay. It's almost over."

Kunimi could practically feel Kindaichi's heart going wild, and he felt a stabbing jolt of guilt for not knowing what to do. He'd never been good with people, never, especially not after Kageyama proved how completely suckass some people could be... but Kageyama was different, now, wasn't he? He had that hyper, smiley, extraordinarily determined orange-haired middle blocker, and a team that made him say "we" instead of "I".

Aoba Johsai was a pretty awesome team, as well, Kunimi thought, and wondered briefly if he should wake one of the others up. Iwaizumi would know what to do, or Matsukawa...

As he shifted, about to move, Kindaichi's hand shot up and wrapped around Kunimi's sleeve. "Don't go," he managed, his voice tiny. "Please."

All thoughts of leaving vanished from Kunimi's mind, and he leaned against Kindaichi, touching his forehead briefly to Kindaichi's shoulder. "Won't," Kunimi mumbled. "C'mon. You're tired, right?" 

Without waiting for a response, he pulled away from Kindaichi and flopped onto his futon. Before Kindaichi could look at him with hurt eyes for leaving, just after he said he wouldn't, Kunimi pushed himself to the edge of the futon. Taking inspiration from Oikawa and Iwaizumi, Kunimi motioned at the remaining empty spot next to him.

"The worst of the storm's gone, right?" Kunimi asked, keeping his voice at a whisper. "Let's go to sleep. I mean it when I say we'll regret it tomorrow morning if we don't."

That was all the convincing it took to pull Kindaichi away from the wall and over to Kunimi's futon, curling up on the empty half as Kunimi dragged the blanket over by stretching his hand out—no way he was getting up again—and pulled it over Kindaichi and himself both.

Thunder rumbled lowly in the distance, but Kunimi reached out a hand and pressed it against the side of Kindaichi's face that wasn't pressed against the pillow. "Try not to listen," Kunimi said. "We won't be able to hear it in a few minutes."

Under Kunimi's hand, heat rose to Kindaichi's face, and it dawned on him that _Kunimi_ was making Kindaichi _blush_. Him.

There was no time to say anything, because Kindaichi gently pulled Kunimi's hand away and grinned. It was wavering, and he still sort of looked like he was on the verge of tears, but his smile made him look like the Kindaichi that would nudge Kunimi along when he fell behind during runs, the Kindaichi that laughed at things that none of the other Aoba Johsai members found funny.

Relieved, Kunimi let his eyes close—for real—for the second time that night.

"Akira," Kindaichi said softly. "Thanks for not making fun."

"Tarou," Kunimi replied, keeping his eyes shut. If Kindaichi was going to use Kunimi's first name, well, Kunimi would switch to using the nickname he'd given Kindaichi in junior high. "There's nothing to make fun of."

"I mean it, though," Kindaichi pressed, and Kunimi could feel Kindaichi's gaze on him even without looking. "Thank you."

With a great deal of effort, Kunimi pried his eyes open and slipped his hand out of Kindaichi's, then pushed Kindaichi's hair out of his face. It was something he'd wanted to do ever since Kindaichi walked into the room earlier.

Humming in satisfaction (partially at finally having done it and partially at Kindaichi's surprised expression), he took his hand away, eyes shutting of their own accord this time. Kunimi heard Kindaichi breathe a laugh right before sleep ferried him away to peaceful darkness.

**Author's Note:**

> self-indulgent!! i just really wanted to get it out there :))
> 
> was picturing baguantte's kindaichi whenever I was thinking about how his hair would look down <3


End file.
